Sylvester Stallone and Cole Hauser Go All In on Vegas Crime Saga Blood Aces
Vegas is about to get wilder: Sylvester Stallone and Cole Hauser are teaming for Blood Aces, a gritty series tracking Benny Binion, the outlaw casino boss who reshaped Sin City.
Well this is a tidy bit of casting synergy: Sylvester Stallone is producing a Vegas crime saga, and Yellowstone star Cole Hauser is stepping into the boots of Benny Binion, the Texas outlaw-turned-casino boss who helped shape modern poker. The series is called 'Blood Aces,' and yes, rodeo is in the mix too.
What is 'Blood Aces'?
Based on Doug J. Swanson's nonfiction book 'Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker,' the show tracks Binion's climb from Fort Worth hustler to a brash, ruthless operator who helped define Las Vegas and the poker world. The pitch is a gritty, character-first drama about a man who outmaneuvers enemies with brains and muscle, builds a family empire, and treats laws like suggestions. It is positioned as prestige TV, not a glossy casino soap.
Who is doing what
- Cole Hauser plays Benny Binion.
- Sylvester Stallone executive produces for Balboa Productions alongside D. Matt Geller.
- Hauser also executive produces with Randall Batinkoff for Outlaw Entertainment.
- MGM Television is the studio; Lindsay Sloane, MGM TV's Head of Scripted Series, is cheerleading the project internally.
- As of now, Stallone is not acting in the series. That could always change, but don't count on it yet.
Why this story, why now
Binion's life slices through a lot of American myth-making: gamblers, cowboys, the birth of modern poker, and the messy, very real violence behind the Vegas glow. The show promises to capture his unapologetic style and the way he blended poker tables with rodeo arenas while consolidating power. If you're picturing smoky card rooms and brutal backroom deals, you're probably on the right track.
The players weigh in
Stallone (coming off 'Tulsa King') is framing Binion as a connector of different worlds — some glamorous, some dangerous, all entertaining — and says the material is a perfect fit for Hauser. MGM's Lindsay Sloane is selling it as a sweeping American saga about risk and reinvention, with cinematic scope and a lead role built for a big, force-of-nature performance.
'Benny Binion is one of the great Western American characters and success stories of the 20th century, loaded with ambition, vision, balls, and like all controversial characters, many flaws. His legacy is undeniable. How he built it is an incredible story which we can't wait to tell.'
Translation: Hauser is ready to go full antihero. And for anyone keeping score, Stallone backing a lean, tough Vegas series while Hauser plays a ruthless builder of empires is exactly the kind of casting that makes executives high-five.
What we still don't know
Deadline says the project is set up at MGM Television, but there is no network or streamer announced yet, and no timeline. Expect those details to shake out once scripts and schedules lock. For now, 'Blood Aces' is a strong package: a notorious, larger-than-life subject, a bestselling book as the blueprint, and two guys who know their way around modern TV tough-guy mythmaking.